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RENSSELAER A. COWELL, OF

Letters Patent No,'110,9(l1, dated January 10, l'l.

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The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent'an. malul'ng part of .the same.

' To all whom 'it may conce/rn:

Be it known that I, RnNssnLAnn A. Cownnn, of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and Sta-.te of Ohio, have invented a new-and usetnllmprovement in, Railway-Cars; and I hereby declare'-tbe following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof,-

'snbioient to' enable thoseskiiled iu the art to which my vinvention appertains to fully understand and to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making' part of this specifica tion, andnwhich- Figure l is a plan View. Figure 2 is a longitudinal section. Figure is an end View.. c Y Like. letters of reference indicate like parts in the various gures. Elly-invention'consists in the peculiar-rconstruction". and arrangement of the parts as hereinafter fully described and claimed, whereby a much improved, safe, and strong,r car is made, capable of resisting,y a very great shock. It also leaves no open space between cnrs, endangering the lives of persons by slipping and Falling between them.

Referring to the drawing- A Arepresent the two .side rails of the platform or" va car, and V B I5 are intermediate rails, all lying lengthwise of tbe ear, the side railsA A being shorter and terrnim" ati-ug at the end of the bouse or body of the car, while the intermediate rails B B are longer and ex tend beyond 'the body of the car `to form the platbrm.

The end sill C, forming the end of the oar proper, is made by square blocks fitted between the rails B base or..

' B, and having a strong bolt, o, passing through tliem and vtherails, und secured by nntsc ou the outside face ofthe side rails A A. There are also heavy planks (l d placed across, .one

- on the upper side andone on the under side 0f the blocks andrails. rlhis makes the end offthe frame quite as 'strong as the sides andallows the rails B B to extend beyond, for reasons hereinafter-shown.

Across the end of the rails B B is a cross-head, D. The floor and steps of the platform are made of' a plate of sheet-boiler iron, E. bent -to form the steps,.'

and roughened on the upper side sons not to be slippery- 4 A piece of iron,"ll", is 'bent so as to embrace the cross-head D,"as seen in fig.- 2, thus forming the extension-platfbrm.

The upper side is slipped in under the floor-plate E, and a slot, f, is out in Vboth the upper and lower parts, through which and. the' crossdiead a bolt, t', passes. l f

The iron F extends out beyond thev cross-head a as `follows pass from h and 71,

short distaneemnndthe spacebetween' its outer end and the cross-ead D is occupied byu rubber spring, o, which acts to keep the iron extended, and will also allowitlto turn sidewise a little to conform1 to the c urve in which two carsmay be in'. y

This piece of iron E is as wide as the space between the hand-rails of the platform, andthe two (one on each car) meet and cover the space. usually Vfound between the oars.

.The draw-head G is secured at its rear end in its usual manner, but the front end secure by'braoes,

A hearyiron rod, h, is bent, as seen. in lig. 3,and nearly embraces the bumper, the ends being secured' in the ends of the cross-head D. Y

A bar, h', under the bumper, unites wth'the braces at 't/fgtnd tbus secures the bumper irmly 1u its place. G

The two bars j j, extending yfromthe joints la. it", to thecros's-head l), will prevent-the bumper being forced upward.

There are also two strong iron braces, K K, which at the front of the bumper back crei-'the sill C to a transom, m, to both of uf'hichthey are firmly secured.-

By this inode of constructing a platform greater strengthis obtained. By having,r the rails B B extend outetothe cross-head D o r front end of the platfbrnx, audby'having the platform oor and steps of iron' and the brace-rods K K arranged asV .shown 'the liability o'the oars breaking into'each other or telescopu ing, as it is termed, in cases of collisions, is overcome,

as the timbers forming the base o r foundation would come' in Contact directly end to end'.

The plates F,.forming the extension-platnfm in two contiguous cars, also touch each other at all times, so that thespace between two cars is always closed. "lhe point of meeting of lthe two extension-plat forms is over the central partei' arubber bulb, n, on the link between the two draw-heads.

ThedraW-hends or couplings (a former invention of' mine) are designed to work in conjunction with this," my improved extensiomplatfornn "I clairn .rods h It, @correcting bar h', and upright supports jj,

with the vdrawhhead G, substantially'nsshown,and for the purpose set forth.

BLA. GOWELL. Witnesses:

" GEo. WV.. T'nsnrrrs,

L M. Hnnnnnso" 1. The combination and arrangement oi' the rails' 

